Everyone Brave is Forgiven (Cleave)

Book Reviews
(Starred review.) Real, engaging characters, based loosely on Cleave’s own grandparents, come alive on the page. Insightful, stark, and heartbreaking, Cleave’s latest novel portrays the irrepressible hopefulness that can arise in the face of catastrophe.
Publishers Weekly


[S]weeping saga...well crafted and compelling but a tad shy of perfect, if only because the romance between the main characters isn't developed convincingly.... Cleave shines when delivering droll banter, and [some of the] exchanges...are particularly clever and touching. —Christine Perkins, Whatcom Cty. Lib. Syst., Bellingham, WA
Library Journal


Intensely felt…Full of insight and memorably original phrasings, the story is leavened by sardonic humor… Cleave paints an emotion-filled portrait of a damaged city with its inequities amplified by war and of courageous individuals whose connections to one another make them stronger.
Booklist


Privileged young Londoners lose their sense of entitlement and their moral innocence in Cleave's romantic but very adult World War II love story.... Among all the recent fictions about the war, Cleave's miniseries of a novel is a surprising standout, with irresistibly engaging characters who sharply illuminate issues of class, race, and wartime morality.
Kirkus Reviews